Five Times Lily Said No and The One Time She Didn't
by cosmictrap
Summary: For Houses Competition - James's attempts at asking Lily out.


**Houses Competition:** Year 3, Round 2

 **House:** Ravenclaw

 **Year:** 1

 **Category:** Short

 **[Prompt]** : [ First Line ] It all started with a simple "Good morning", and went downhill from there.

 **Word Count:** 1498

* * *

 **Tags:** Non Canon, Pre Hogwarts, Jily

* * *

 **Five Times Lily Said No and The One Time She Didn't**

* * *

It all started with a simple "Good morning", and went downhill from there. For Lily Evans, at least. She should've, in all honesty, known because with James Potter, it was never a "simple" "Good morning." When had he ever in the past greeted her with a polite "Good morning," not accompanied by an annoyingly smug smirk.

She should've known he was up to something.

In her defense, never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that James Potter _liked_ her. The boy's sole mission in life seemed to be to annoy the living daylights out of her, so how was she supposed to have seen this coming!?

 _But_ she should've known.

As she hid in her safe spot, away from all giggles and questions being thrown her way, she plotted revenge. At least she tried to, because her mind was coming up with nothing.

How do you even beat the humiliation caused by the extreme theatrics that precede a very public proposal of a first date in front of literally everyone she knew.

Well, maybe _humiliation_ wasn't the right word. She had of course, reddened as he grinned at her in the courtyard while everyone stared at the two of them. Only she knew that the blushing had nothing to with embarrassment. The way he was looking at her had her feeling flustered and confused, as he looked at her expectantly.

The worst part?

He wasn't the slightest bit fazed when she refused. She had turned her heels and was walking away as people hooted behind her, but she had heard James yell, "I'll try till you say, yes, Evans!"

And here she was. She forgot that she was planning "revenge", and found herself wondering when the next time would be, if it would be as ostentatious as this time. Truthfully, she would actually prefer a more intimate setting, and-

She gasped at the thought, and chided herself immediately.

"Sure, Lily," she said admonishingly. "A more intimate setting. _As if._ I'm never saying, yes to him."

* * *

The next time was less than a week later. It was, in hindsight, the most James Potter thing that James Potter had ever done.

Lily had been sitting in the library, furiously making potion notes when a tap on the glass window in front of her table startled her

Outside, floating on a broomstick, was James Potter. She stared at his face through the glass, mouth agape in shock. He continued tapping, while mouthing the words "Open up, Evans."

She continued to sit stiffly in her chair, throwing nervous glances around the library. As his tapping got urgent, she hissed in annoyance as she leaned forward to open the window.

The breeze was cold and strong up there in the library tower, and Lily made a mental note that James smelled like pine trees and a pinch of cinnamon. Well, _that_ was unexpected.

She felt warmth creep up her cheeks as she caught herself, and scowled at him instead. "Are you _crazy_?!"

James frowned a little and looked down at the floor, as if only just noticing how high up he was. Then shrugging, he turned to look at her. "Maybe I am."

Lily rolled her eyes and made a move to close the window again, when James started to apologize, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he said. "I just…. Come one, Evans. Just one mug of butterbeer. On me."

"Potter…"

" _One date."_

"You're incorrigible," she said backing away and starting to gather her books. "And so annoying," she added, as she started to walk away.

"...and persistent!" he called, after her.

* * *

The third time was a month after the library incident, in potions class. Lily and Severus were hunched over their table, looking intently at their bubbling infusion of wormwood. Lily had the right amount of powdered asphodel, ready in a little vial, as she waited for the infusion to turn into the right colour.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Severus scribbling away in his book diligently, and just as the wormwood infusion turned into the deep golden brown shade described by Mr Slughorn, there was a small popping noise.

The air in front of Lily's eyes started to crackle and she started to back away when letters, the same colour as the wormwood infusion, formed in front of her eyes.

 _Evans. One date. That's all I'm asking._

She whipped her head to glare at James, who was looking at her sheepishly while Sirius was cackling really loudly. Everyone turned to look at them and the girls were giggling while the guys made appreciative hooting noises. Severus was looking at her with raised eyebrows, and she shook her head weakly at him. Professor Slughorn merely sighed defeatedly and continued to peer into the students' cauldrons, muttering, "Now, now, nothing to see there."

Swatting at the letters, Lily turned back to her cauldron, adding asphodel into it hurriedly before turning to glare at James again while shaking her head in a disapproving manner.

As they were leaving the class, Lily gave in to the twitch and hexed James before hurrying to the next class with a pleasantly surprised Severus.

* * *

Couple of months later, Lily was crying silently under an isolated tree by the lake, feeling hurt and betrayed. She felt someone walking up behind her and she sniffled angrily. "Leave me, alone, Severus. I-"

"Er, it's me," came an apologetic voice, making Lily groan.

"Go away, James. Now's not the time," she groaned. "The answer is, as usual, no."

"That's now why I'm here…." he said quietly, sinking on to the grass next to her.

She blinked in surprise and turned to look at him. "What? Why-"

"I… I wanted to see if you were… okay..." he said hesitantly.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Go away. This is not something I want to talk to you about. This is all your fault anyway," she muttered angrily.

"Hey," he said defensively. "It's not _my_ fault! I hexed him, and yes, I take responsibility for that. But he shouldn't have… He… Calling you mudb- um, calling you what he did was on him."

"You're right," she sniffled. "I'm sorry."

James sighed. "No, _I'm_ sorry, Evans. That wasn't right, what I did."

"No, it wasn't," she agreed.

"I won't do that again," he said softly.

She chuckled disbelievingly. "I'll believe it when I see it."

And she does.

* * *

"Wow, Evans. Look at you, talking to us in such a civilized manner. I didn't know you could do that," Sirius laughed.

"Believe me, I am surprised too," she shrugged nonchalantly.

She had a good feeling about these guys. She was almost never wrong.

One evening, Lily and James were the last two people left in the Common Room after Sirius declared that his bed was calling for him. Bidding them goodnight, he dragged himself upstairs, while James and Lily sat by the fire, quietly finishing their homework.

"Hey, Evans?" said James quietly, looking up from his parchment at her.

"Hm?" she said, scribbling away at her notes.

"So how about that date with me?"

Her head shot up and she blinked at him in surprise. "I can't tell if you're joking, James," she said nervously.

"Dead serious."

"I thought we were past that," she said hesitantly.

"I told you, Evans. I'm a persistent guy," he shrugged easily. "Besides, you hated me back then. We're friends now. Right?'

"Right. We are," she nodded in agreement. "Friends, I mean."

"I see," he said, going back to his homework.

"James, I'm sorry. I-"

"What? No, don't be sorry," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "It's alright. I wasn't really expecting you to say yes. But worth a shot," he grinned.

"So… We're good?"

"We're good, Evans," nodded James. "We're good. And don't worry, this was the last time. I solemnly swear that I won't ask you about this again."

"Oh," she said, not missing the tone of finality in his voice. "The last time"

"Friend's honour," he said, holding a hand over his chest solemnly.

"Al-Alright," she said, giving him best smile.

She didn't understand why that bothered her so much, but after they bid each other good night a while later, and as she drifted off to sleep, she did.

* * *

That weekend they all went to Hogsmeade together, the guys and her, with her friends. Somehow, James and Lily found themselves on their way to Madame Rosemerta's, having offered to bring their other friends bottles of butterbeer while they shopped for candy.

As they waited for Madame Rosemerta to hand over their drinks, Lily worried her lower lip, drumming her fingers against the counter. She chanced a glance at James, to find him quickly averting his gaze from her, his cheeks turning just a little bit warm.

Smiling softly, she tucked a strand of hair nervously behind her ear and cleared her throat. "Um, hey, James? How about that date you kept annoying me about?" she asked sheepishly, nodding towards the tables.


End file.
